The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

[BigTime]

Name one for each

Mine

G: Christian James. Really like his game and is poise. Knocked down a 3 and calmly sank two FTs. Really think he will be able to help much like Buddy and Hornbeak did as Fr (Cousins was more of a "typical" true freshmen

B: Lattin and Cole. Got to have Kadheem play better on both ends. Cole should not play any meaningful minutes. Great practice guy - not a top ten team contributer.

U: our transition defense tonight. Yikes it was bad. One possession saw
a wide open layup made right after a made 3. No excuse for a veteran team playing that poorly in transition D.

 

[opsooner]

G: Woodard - very solid
B: rebounding in 1st half; in position but not checking anyone
U: just overall first game mistakes at times; sloppy ball handling, poor D; poor decisions, etc.

 

[SoonerTraveler]

G: Road Win, with a 9-2 run over the last 1:38 to seal the victory.

B: Scheduling first game on the road.

U: Three senior starters each committing 4 turnovers, making 12 of the team's 19 turnovers.

 

[jaymOU]

G - think this will be a solid W late in year - Memphis will be good

B - containing dribble penetration

U - rebounding. Way too many offensive boards allowed

 

[Max Power]

Good: tough road win, Jordan Woodard,
Bad: starters minutes (way to many for the 4 returning guys)
Ugly: turnovers, D, rebounding

 

[PlanoGuy]

Good: Hield's shooting, great play at the end and Woodard's big shot
Bad: defense, rebounding, lack of enthusiasm
Ugly: Cousins at the point & Woodard at off-guard. Kruger is a great coach and I'm sure he has his logic, but I don't understand it. I'm a big Woodard supporter, but if he is not playing the point, why is he in the game?

 

[TheGimper]

Ugly: Cousins at the point & Woodard at off-guard. Kruger is a great coach and I'm sure he has his logic, but I don't understand it. I'm a big Woodard supporter, but if he is not playing the point, why is he in the game?

Woodard was in the game as the off-guard because he played great tonight. He was just short of a triple-double not running the point.

 

[skyvue]

if he is not playing the point, why is he in the game?

Thank heaven he was in the game.

 

[StatGeek]

Ugly: Cousins at the point & Woodard at off-guard. Kruger is a great coach and I'm sure he has his logic, but I don't understand it. I'm a big Woodard supporter, but if he is not playing the point, why is he in the game?

Yeah, I dont get it either, seemed like this really hampered our ability to get out on the break and get easy baskets after defensive stops.

 

[MercedeSooner]

G - Definite change in mentality down the stretch of that game, no panicked possessions like we saw last year. Guys looked like they've been there before and they have.

B - Lattin - If he doesn't step up and become a consistent inside presence for us we are going to be in serious trouble against any team with some size. Kid has all the talent but the game just looked way too fast for him tonight which is a bit troublesome when you see the way D Lawson played.

U - Overall Sloppiness - Inability to box out on the other end cost us a million baskets. Same issue with the sloppy turnovers. We were top 10 in FG % given up last year and we didn't see much of that today. Hate the cherry picking also.

 

[inoref]

Did you all think OU looked slow? From what I seen Memphis was by far the quicker team..
Good win anyway/

 

[BoulderSooner]

Good: tough road win, Jordan Woodard,
Bad: starters minutes (way to many for the 4 returning guys)
Ugly: turnovers, D, rebounding

completely disagree with your bad ... look at Kentucky the point and the 2 played 40 and 38 min ..

in college basketball with all the breaks .. the best players should play a bunch in big games .. if OU has a big lead sure give them a break otherwise I want those 4 on the floor ..

 

[BoulderSooner]

the good we have Buddy and the other teams don't .. his line is just about perfect (4 to's for your ball dominate shooting guard is fine) Jordan looks to me like he decided late in the game that he was going to make plays period .. (and it is clear he knows he should be the PG all the time)

the bad .. boxing out in the first half .. and lattin he didn't have a good first game (this is as good a front court as we will see until conf play)

the ugly Cousins at PG it needs to be over now ... it not only hurts us at the point .. it hurts cousins scoring .. he is not and will never be a natural PG .. (I had a conversation with a former kruger player about this during the game) ..

 

[Sooner04]

the good we have Buddy and the other teams don't .. his line is just about perfect (4 to's for your ball dominate shooting guard is fine) Jordan looks to me like he decided late in the game that he was going to make plays period .. (and it is clear he knows he should be the PG all the time)..

Well, you're consistent.

I'm not sure most of you understand what Lon is trying to do by moving Woodard off the ball. It's not a demotion to Jordan, but more of an opportunity to keep the opposing defense moving once the ball gets out to the wings. I think most of you are thinking Lon just came up with this one night while staring at the ceiling, and that is simply not the case.

 

[BoomSoon]

Love the move of Woodard off the ball. He shined last night.

Your PG needs to be a vocal leader. Maybe Jordan is not comfortable with that? He came up big for us last night. Maybe he is more comfortable?

That is a heck of a win. Always better to learn lessons and still win. Big win come March.

 

[WTSooner]

Did you all think OU looked slow? From what I seen Memphis was by far the quicker team..
Good win anyway/

Great point.

When people say OU has a bunch of athletic players, I always kind of smirk. Memphis had athletes. They were quicker and more explosive than us at just about every position. That said, OU has the better basketball players. And yesterday, the better basketball players beat the better athletes.

I'm not saying OU isn't athletic, or that we have a bunch of stiffs, but we don't have the kind of athletes that Memphis does. We just don't.

 

[WTSooner]

Well, you're consistent.

I'm not sure most of you understand what Lon is trying to do by moving Woodard off the ball. It's not a demotion to Jordan, but more of an opportunity to keep the opposing defense moving once the ball gets out to the wings. I think most of you are thinking Lon just came up with this one night while staring at the ceiling, and that is simply not the case.

I understand completely what he is doing, I just disagree that even if it works perfectly, that it provides a tangible difference in how the OU team will perform. And if it doesn't work perfectly, well, I think it hurts us.

The shot clock is a major reason for this move. Get the ball in the hands of one of your better "scorers" as early as possible. I just don't like it though. Everybody said Woodard is shooting it better this year. If that is the case, I think that alone would have solved the "sagging defense" problem from last year.

Coaches aren't infallible. Sometimes they make moves that have logic, and with good intentions, and they fail. I just hope at some point they switch Woodard back to pg. I think OU is better that way.

 

[perryj74]

The Ugly - Rebounding
The Bad - Turnovers
The Good - Winning despite the Ugly and Bad

 

[jerry]

Name one for each

Mine

G: Christian James. Really like his game and is poise. Knocked down a 3 and calmly sank two FTs. Really think he will be able to help much like Buddy and Hornbeak did as Fr (Cousins was more of a "typical" true freshmen

B: Lattin and Cole. Got to have Kadheem play better on both ends. Cole should not play any meaningful minutes. Great practice guy - not a top ten team contributer.

U: our transition defense tonight. Yikes it was bad. One possession saw
a wide open layup made right after a made 3. No excuse for a veteran team playing that poorly in transition D.

Pretty good assessment!

 

[Sooner04]

I understand completely what he is doing, I just disagree that even if it works perfectly, that it provides a tangible difference in how the OU team will perform. And if it doesn't work perfectly, well, I think it hurts us.

The shot clock is a major reason for this move. Get the ball in the hands of one of your better "scorers" as early as possible. I just don't like it though. Everybody said Woodard is shooting it better this year. If that is the case, I think that alone would have solved the "sagging defense" problem from last year.

Coaches aren't infallible. Sometimes they make moves that have logic, and with good intentions, and they fail. I just hope at some point they switch Woodard back to pg. I think OU is better that way.

I don't disagree with any point. I remember the Cousins experiment at PG his freshman year as well, and it had to be abandoned after some early-season catastrophes against the press.

It will be interesting to see his how our offense hums against lesser opponents. Will there be games where Woodard is given more of a chance to be a volume shooter (ala Buddy)? I don't have the answer, but I'm always in favor of things that make a team more versatile.